Qualified pick, only because it does get into the weeds with respect to the level of detail in parts. But, absolutely pertinent in a world bent toward fascism.

Do mental illnesses and/or personality disorders account for mass cruelty and disregard for human life & suffering? We seem reluctant to admit normally adjusted people can join or tolerate monstrous movements and actions.

Apparently the new film covers a shorter time period.

Not technically a reading happy hour (more like chore hour), but nonetheless I was happy to get #3 in the mail! 👏🏾

#FridayHappyReadingHour

I was frustrated with the pacing in this one. It got both repetitive and digressive. I‘d suggest a pass if you haven‘t read it yet.

My expectations were too high! I really enjoy gothic literature and the first section was fantastic when Harker is trapped in Dracula‘s castle. (Has a surreal Kafkaesque vibe.) And the scene with Dracula crawling headfirst down the castle wall is absolutely creepy.

But then Dracula as a character all but disappears from the last 2/3 of the novel.

My favorite funny line for its casual delivery, “May I cut off the head of dead Miss Lucy?”

80 year old Maggie is real a piece of work! Competing for the hotel as her claimed home against an 8 year old boy who is also a piece of work.

As others have noted, great twist at the end!

When the LMS is down we read, which is all good because I needed to finish this today. It‘s a buddy read with my daughter who was assigned it for English class. Oooooofta, emotionally heavy reading. The writing is as if Ward channeled Morrison & Faulkner.

Iowa farm life growing up during the depression. Far from feeling deprived, Mildred looks back with affection on her rich & vibrant experiences as a child. This isn‘t one of those woe-is-me memoirs. As to be expected, she felt some things in society had changed for the better, others not.

I‘m realizing when I‘m home, between mom-bus & work & dinner/kitchen duty, #FridayHappyReadingHour isn‘t chill book time. However, I do leaf through cookbooks, like this one recently sent to me by in-laws. So many of the words are puzzling since it‘s olde English! Many of the recipes I will take a hard pass on, like “How to make a calf‘s head pie.”😝

Squeal! 💜 If you and your kids have read the Track series, you know why. 5th installment. Will it be the last?

I learned much and feel more hopeful about peoples‘ ability & willingness to do good things when needed. I also loved Sharon‘s periodic cheeky commentary. 😉

1947

Wow, so I was thinking this only happened in my house! 😂 Everyone has something else to do other than eating when dinner is ready.

This was a morally ambiguous (fun!) read because Lucia finds herself in a cascade of consequences flowing from a single act of deception. While she is motivated out of a sense of familial duty, her conscience gives both her & readers all kinds of grief. #PersephoneClub

Aside from the mystery, Holding offers readers plenty to think about re: women‘s roles and their fulfillment.

I have the very unusual pleasure of a whole day to myself at the camper. What am I to do??? 😲 I have some dark, seasonally appropriate reads for starters.

44F degrees at 9 am - I‘m not going out until it hits at least 55F.

A late #FridayHappyReadingHour with Marquez in the camper. Too dark and chilly to be outside. 🌚 Sad for the rapidly diminishing daylight.

Today daughter and I wrapped up the second season of Wednesday and picked this up out of curiosity. It‘s quite punny, something we both appreciate, and she wants to try several of the recipes. I guess that‘s a thumb up for Thing. 👍🏻😉

#FridayHappyReadingHour - belated edition.

I for one am not complaining about the last gasp of summer temps! What I will complain about is the wind making skeletons of so many trees by Monday. 🥲

Reading outside makes me happy. 😎

🤔 This was a reread for a bookclub. Feeling rather milk toast about it. I‘m sure it was fresh & bold in 1959, but it fell flat for me today. I grasped the tensions/clashes created by the protagonist‘s narcissism within his communities and the cultural pressures brought to bear by colonization via missionaries. But it felt disjointed when suddenly in the last quarter the focus shifted to the latter theme. The pacing was off.

Another installment in the Cash Blackbear series with a pair of disturbing evildoers. I really liked the introduction of a tribal elder who gently nudges Cash to mature into her cultural heritage and the natural gifts she‘s been deprived of by the foster care system.

Sadly, a new narrator that presents Cash in a rather flat, monotone way.

I got lucky today! Brand new for $7.

In true ATK and Milk Street fashion, this isn‘t a compendium of boring basic bland veggie recipes, rather they embrace flavorful global flavors.👌🏾 Seasonal example is Mashed Butternut Squash with Cumin & Chili. Ohhhh, I just flipped to Habanero-Onion Soup with Lime. 😋

My daughter will not give her seal of approval on this book. 🤷🏽‍♀️

A late #FridayHappyReadingHour 😁

It‘s homecoming night so I have to stay up waiting for a call to pick up 5 girls to bring home here after the dance. My son is a senior and I am just now realizing next year I won‘t be on call as MomUber since my daughter will be driving. I don‘t know whether to be happy or sad.

Following the example of @ImperfectCJ I‘m posting this pic to inspire feelings of peace & contentment.

I need it.

Well, this is not a forgettable series, especially this second installment. Cash, because of her age, the region she lives in, and the era, doesn‘t understand the concept of sex trafficking. Until she encounters it first hand.

Very effective & vivid writing. Obvious TW.

P.S. What is with publishers and all the “girl” titles?

This cookbook is terrific for the detailed instructions, which includes details in a snapshot, even a sample schedule. 😁

Made my first sourdough crust last night and it was superb, although it was from King Arthur, not the tagged book. I still have pizza on the brain this morning. 🍕https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-discard-pizza-crust-recipe

The narrator is fantastic! Very plot driven writing, but for my taste not subtle enough to suspend my disbelief and stay fully engaged. Revolves around salacious romantic relationship drama, the type that sets community tongues wagging, which again if more nuanced perhaps I‘d appreciate it more.

So-So rating because I didn‘t bail.

#SoapOpera

Another fantastic book club meetup today. My husband has said for many years now this is the funniest book he‘s ever read. I finally got to it via bookclub and I have to agree, the absurd satire is hilarious. I have so many tabs marking something quite funny. But underneath the humor is scathing insightful social commentary, worthy of the best satires. It also has bits that appear to be autobiographical.

Well done Toole! 👏🏾

Scored both of these translated books I was looking for today. Feeling lucky!

Cash, a young Anishinabe woman, is a complicated person with a complicated past & present. Though there is a murder mystery to solve, the story involves far more than that alone. I‘m going to continue on with the series. Rendon has set it up to really grow the characters she has introduced.

Oh, this was an absolutely fun psychological suspense to read! For anyone in the Celia Fremlin fan club, this has serious Fremlin vibes. @Cathythoughts @LeahBergen

A “lodger”, who is both a menace and a deluded idiot, is haunted by his own obsession. 😬

#FridayHappyReadingHour (outdoor edition) got rained out so Cricket & I looking for a zucchini bread/muffin recipe.

(Per daughter‘s request because the sugar cancels the zucchini as a vegetable. Chocolate chips will make it a bonafide dessert.)

The end was a thrill; I woke up last night and had to listen thru the climax. I appreciated the structure in that it‘s not linear and the backstory slowly reveals itself. That‘s always the best way to build suspense & interest. 😄

#FridayHappyReadingHour is happening inside the camper because it‘s 50 something and I‘m too tired (lazy) to get wood and build a fire. It‘s still happy! 😊

I see the English translation is expected to release June 2026. 😅😅😅

This should be squarely in my wheelhouse and I expected to love it. But, not so much. Some of the writing felt forced & contrived. It‘s also not particularly memorable. I finished listening a couple of weeks ago and recall little about it. Of course I‘m willing to admit that might be my fault because a lot competes for my attention this time of year.

👏🏾👏🏾😅😅 Latest post. But I also don‘t hold my breath on anything anymore.

For those who know this title. 😊 My daughter replaced the original mug that broke because she knew I loved it. Mo Willems is for her what Dr. Seuss was for me as a first reader.

My late Rooibus Tea Happy Hour Reading of 13 Steps Down. Thoroughly enjoying it!

This is the second LFL I‘ve seen in a campground this summer. What a good idea! Too bad there hasn‘t been anything in them for me. 😜

Sunday morning perusal inside because it‘s too stinking cold already to be sitting out comfortably.

I am proud to write despite the fact I would really like to buy two of these books, I‘m going to resist! 💪🏾

"TWELVE INCHES (12") OF PARADISE." ????

Ignatius‘ placard on his Paradise Hotdogs cart and he can‘t figure out why the old ladies are aghast. Clueless! Such a complete pompous fop! He wonders why they aren‘t selling.

Though I‘ve had to start prepping classes and have one of those 🤬 meetings tomorrow, I refuse to be defeated out of my summer vibe. People are complaining about the heat & humidity at my house. I am not one of them bc I know what‘s coming.

Hubby brought back a thoughtful gift from Beacon Hill Books. 😍🥰 He also told me about the floor to ceiling Persephone collection. I guessed it was Persephone bc he described them as “you know those grey cover books you like”……

He managed to finally find himself a copy of Notes from the Underground. I bet we looked in a dozen bookshops this summer. It‘s one of those books you see all the time until you want it.

Time to start thinking about some seasonal fermented vinegars & veggies. I love fire ciders. 🥵🔥

#fridayhappyreadinghour Trying to foil Mother Nature by moving to the front, but that only lasted so long. 😜 Rain is one thing, wind is another.

Sarah Brown from Zenith Bookstore in Duluth, MN wasn‘t kidding about this cover! I immediately borrowed the Kindle edition from the library. 😵

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/08/15/best-beach-reads-from-minnesota-booksel...

I acknowledge this is a cilantro novel and unabashedly declare I am in the 🖤 camp. It‘s time for a reread and I am savoring every delicious gothic moment during bedtime reading.

It‘s happy reading hour with a Wisconsin beer in the Wisconsin woods, with Dostoevsky in a screen tent. There must be a relevant connection within the 900 pages.

I have the necessary choice of bug spray or a screen tent. Today it‘s the tent. 🦟🦟

I really enjoyed the mystery surrounding the origins of mute psychiatric patient William, but the love life woes of art therapist Helen, who is helping solve the puzzle, were a distraction.

Not a chance in hell camping or women owned & brewed beer would meet with I.R.‘s exacting geometrical & theological standards. 😏

This novella is a heartache that reads like a fever dream. The ghosts are haunting. (Pun intended.)

I read this in all but a single sitting. I had to know about Hetty!

Hetty is a woman of mystery. Is she friend or foe? 👀

#PersephoneClub

I had to look up the village of Lytton & the Thompson River. I didn‘t know it had been decimated by a wildfire in 2021. 😒 Rebuilding very slowly.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mayor-lytton-return-home-1.75193...

#PersephoneClub